


Riptide

by ZephyrOnTheWind



Series: Hanahaki [2]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Angst, Other, hanahaki, potential Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-03 22:26:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16334396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZephyrOnTheWind/pseuds/ZephyrOnTheWind
Summary: What should you do when the doctor gets sick?





	Riptide

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently this is angst hell week y'all

Julian thought it was dust they had brought in the first time they entered his clinic. The light in their eyes and determination on their shoulders made him clear his throat, but it couldn't stop him from accepting their offer to help. Help wasn't questioned in the midst of a plague.

~~~

Sometimes, in their quiet moments, few and far between, he saw them lean over their cup, looking down into it as though it was bottomless. The ache in their voice as they whispered someone else's name made the roots of the flower wrap around his lungs. He winces and shifts, but hides the discomfort.

~~~

Some days it was just a sore throat.

~~~

Some days he coughed more than his patients.

~~~

When petals came up, he bought plants for the clinic to hide them in. They complimented him on how they lviened up the place.

~~~

Some of the patients had caught on, but they just patted his hand between their own coughing fits.

~~~

It didn't take long for the petals to be coated in blood. He knew he was running out of ways to hide it. He knew he was running out of time.

~~~

He told them he was requested at the castle, that the Count no longer cared about the excuse of his clinic. He couldn't fight down the hope that they'd offer to keep running it. The petals had the decency to wait until their back was turned when they didn't.

~~~

Petals and blood covered his bed that night before he passed out from the exhaustion of it all.

~~~

He got thrown out of a vivisection for coughing up buds into the corpse.

~~~

The bloom in his chest was violent and angry that night, blood-covered buds covered his pillow as thorns ripped through his throat. He felt himself choking on it, gasping for air. His vision started to go.

Then it all just

stopped.

~~~

His sleep was uninterrupted that night.

~~~

The only flowers he saw the next day were the ones in the garden.

~~~

He slipped out of the palace through a small door in the wall. Evening set in as he walked through the town, greeting the few people who still braved the streets. His heart lifted at the thought of them, at what the disappearance of the flower in his lungs could mean.

~~~

The shop lights were off, the closed sign added on to. 'Until Further Notice'.

~~~

Julian whispered his apologies as he used the spare key to unlock the door and enter the shop. It was cold and empty, even though it looked the same as the one time he had visited before. He ducked his head intot the back room and listened for them upstairs, but the silence pressed on him more and more.

~~~

He noticed the note on the counter.

~~~

Asra

I'm sorry for lying when I told you I'd be fine. You were right that I'd end up in that island. I'm glad I got to help people, but sad that I won't get to say goodbye in person. Remember that I love you

~~~

Julian wailed and screamed and cried that night, praying for the petals.

All he managed was ash.


End file.
